Psychology

There is a rationality to believing in conspiracy theories that purport to identify somebody acting in secret to harm or gain an advantage that's illegal or immoral, over somebody else without their knowledge or consent.

Founder of The Skeptics Society & Science Communicator

Our brains are not so well equipped, we just tend to assume patterns that look connected are causally connected. So a conspiracy theory is just another causal theory – why did these things happen?

Founder of The Skeptics Society & Science Communicator

Enough conspiracy theories are true, it pays to believe more of them are true than actually are, make a type 1 error, false positive, you thought something was real when it wasn't, as opposed to a type 2 error where you failed to recognise a real conspiracy which could be costly.

Founder of The Skeptics Society & Science Communicator

Education attenuates conspiracism such as those without a high school diploma are twice as likely to believe conspiracy theories than people with a graduate degree. But 1 in 5 people with a graduate degree believe in conspiracy theories, which is 20% – that is a high number. Education does not entirely eliminate it.

Founder of The Skeptics Society & Science Communicator

It is very common in politics that each party assume the other party cheated in every election if they lose. It's not that republicans are more suspicious than democrats or vice versa, but their constructive paranoia leads them to believe that the other party is doing something sinister.

Founder of The Skeptics Society & Science Communicator

Philosophy is not an anaesthetic, like it's just going to make the pain go away. But there is great solace in really understanding why chronic pain is difficult. Understanding those things can be consoling in itself, in part because it overcomes the isolation of illness.

Harvard philosophy professor specializing in ethics and meaning

The unintelligibility of suffering adds insult to injury. I don't think we can have reassurance that 'it's always for the best', but I think we can understand what's going on. The craving for understanding for many of us is deep, and philosophy can help us overcome that frustration.

Harvard philosophy professor specializing in ethics and meaning

We flee from affliction the way an animal flees from death. There's a sense in which it's perfectly natural that our response to difficulty in life is aversive. We're only going to be able to live well with the difficulties of life if we face up to them, because they're difficult.

Harvard philosophy professor specializing in ethics and meaning

We have to live in the world as it is, not the world as we wish it would be, is something that we misunderstand. If we are realistic those ideals are usually out of reach, and in fact thinking about them and dreaming about them is a way to punish ourselves for the fact our lives are never going to match up to those ideals.

Harvard philosophy professor specializing in ethics and meaning

Despite every adversity, never give up on your dreams. I am living proof that having been born and brought up in the smallest country in the Southern Hemisphere, it is possible to fulfil your ambition and succeed despite seemingly insurmountable odds.

British actor known for Withnail and I and Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Built into her edict, is not to feel any guilt if you find happiness or joy after her death. That is an extraordinarily generous piece of advice.

British actor known for Withnail and I and Star Wars: The Force Awakens

My wife quipped that we're all going to die and it just happened to be her turn. Her pragmatic and humorous attitude was a guide as to how to accept what is unchangeable and inevitable.

British actor known for Withnail and I and Star Wars: The Force Awakens

I began a conversation with my future wife in January 1983 and 38 years later, that conversation ended when she drew her last breath at 7.30 in the evening on the 2nd of September 2021. To be truly and completely seen, understood and loved by another Human Being, was her greatest gift to me.

British actor known for Withnail and I and Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Four days before she died, she challenged my daughter and I to try and find a pocketful of happiness in each day, which has become the mantra by which we navigate the abyss of grief, following her death. I don't think you ever get over grief, you just have to find a way to accommodate and travel around it.

British actor known for Withnail and I and Star Wars: The Force Awakens

A less experienced, less comfortable, version of myself would get angry and then realise they were angry. The meditative version of me can anticipate when I'm going to get angry- and then, it becomes a choice. Do you want to be angry? Or have a different attitude?

My identity, and that of the company, were one-and-the-same, and that's not just inaccurate, it's unhealthy. You don't want to be on the yo-yo of your company's wins and fails. You can keep doing the right things daily and getting 1% better every day, independently of how the business is performing!